First ever ATCs

My first ever ATCs.
I made these for a swap on ATCs for all because it struck my fancy and gave me something to do while waiting for Treestump to turn up. I am trying to be strict with myself and only sign up for swaps AFTER I have made the items for the swap, if I don't get to be on the swap I figure I liked the subject so don't mind keeping the result.

They are 3d decoupage or paper toile as they called it. This technique is something I have done several times over the years but keeping it small enough for an ATC and not so think it looked silly (or went over the swap 1cm limit) was probably the hardest thing. Left to myself I tend to do lots of layers, on these I did about 5 which was plenty really.

They are all versions of Holly Hobby as the swap is for Holly Hobby, owls or mushrooms. Both two figure cards are done with form pads but the rocking chair one I did with multiple layers of card because the chair was so thin I couldn't cut foam thin enough.

New Baby

I just realised I hadn't posted about the new arrival. He finally turned up on the 12th March, once things started they went very fast and he turned up in just over four hours. He weighed in at 3.8kg (8lb 6) and is fine and healthy. I am feeling much better as the SPD seems to have gone almost instantly.

We are going to call him by the on-line nickname of Treestump for many reasons including it was suggested by his big brother (as a serious name but he is four and also suggested stormtrooper and pom-pom) and he was a few days late so his skin was dry and cracked like bark.

Freeform crochet and ATC making

Well still waiting on the baby but I did find a freeform CAL (crochet along) on Ravelry which sounded fun and do able. It goes all month and each day the lass running it posts up a stitch to be used, a change like change hook size or yarn or something and a way of generating a random number (so far things like roll a die (D6), the number of posts done on ravelry adding digits together, the hour at the time you do the crochet etc.)

Nine days in (today's hasn't gone up yet) and already they all look extremely different, some like mine are still basically flat but some are defiantly not, one looks like a pointed hat for instance. It partly depends if you worked in the round or not and things like that are up to the person doing it. Also the amount of each stitch can vary a lot. Probably the biggest so far being the filet stitch which was do the number of stitchs equal to the page you are on in your current book, magazine etc.

The weird looking thing at the top of this post is my attempt. It is fun, doesn't take much time each day and I have already done several stitches I haven't tried yet. I could do with getting a stitch library type book though of course the internet will supply most things when kicked enough ! I hope it's small enough I can keep it up all month.

If you want to see more you can look it up on Ravelry on the party for crochet month group if you are a member. If not it is also on Kaet's weblog so you can follow along there, however if you do knitting or crochet I suggest joining Ravelry there is loads of useful stuff there.

As to ATCs I finally got round to making one. It's done in 3d Decorparge which I've done before, the first time as a kid with bits of card as spacers. I've now got foam pads and recently got some 1mm ones so I could do small versions.. I have pre-printed ones designed for cards but this one was an image I printed from the web. If am going to try and do a couple more in which case I might see if there is a space on a swap on ATC's for all. However I have given myself a rule not to join any more swaps unless I have already made the items for the swaps on the principle then I can't let people down and if I like the subject enough to want to do the swap I will not mind keeping what I've made if the swap fills before I get on it.

These two may only be little projects but it's more than I've managed for a while so I'm chuffed.

I've been tagged

While I'm waiting for the baby which if the midwife is right should hopefully be pretty soon now I thought I'd do this meme as I have been tagged by TeaRose over at Needle and clay, her blog is mostly about artdolls which is a great subject with such a variety of styles.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.


So here goes.

1) I find it very hard to work at a clear desk I need to have things I have to do out and visible or my brain forgets them. It doesn't matter how good a filing system I have I still forget. This has not gone down well with some work colleagues who see a messy desk as unprofessional but in my defence I can always find what I need that way.

2) I won a hour long challenge to see who could make bobbin lace the fastest as a teenager, the organisers wanted to have it as a world record but the guiness book of records said it was to minority a subject. I was making Honiton lace which is pretty much the finest lace ever made.

3) I can mentally judge spaces very accurately. I always know if something will fit in a gap and can work out exactly where each of the the various tents a group has need to go when we have a very limited pitching space, including guy ropes etc.

4) If you give me two fabrics dyed the same colour, one synthetic and one natural I will be able to tell you which is which. There is just something different I'm not sure I can even explain why but it has something to do with depth and purity of colour.

5) I am chronically dyslexic but I have had the advantage of some very good teaching on how to get round it ..mostly from my mum who was a teacher when we were young.

6) I read cookery books much the same way other people read novels. Mrs Beeton is one of the best but many older books are very interesting because they cover much more than just recipes. I am not so fond of modern books with a big picture on each page, I'd rather have lots of different written recipes which is odd as I'm a very visual person in most areas.

I always find tagging people hard and please don't feel you have to do this, I've only done a couple as I don't like to tag people I don't know.

Julie at Julie made this
Richard at Richard's comments